This guide assumes you are familiar with the advanced techniques in smash 64 and the lingo used by the smash community to refer to characters moves.

The Visual Guide for this category should be used when learning the category http://imgur.com/fM6XCXD

While learning about this category I suggest you watch the videos of the best runs done of this category: youtube.com/watch?v=T32mb7gueWY Jeremy Doll's 6:01 with timer on US-N64 youtube.com/watch?v=5RZCmPj8slQ Pikashy's 5:49.93 on US-N64 youtube.com/watch?v=YFs1glw2Nj0 My 5:43.77 on IQue Player

Link Dash and Grab Link with the tip of your grab range then back-throw. You then need to buffer the dash towards where you threw him out of the back throw in order to get there as fast as possible. You need to go fast in order to bait him into using his double jump so you can grab him. Once you have the grab press forward to cargo him and walk off the ledge while throwing him, throw him just after you leave the main platform and lightly tap yourself down to the ground. The reason you need to lightly tap down is so you can prepare to dash off the ledge after link. The dash after landing needs to be right when you hit the ground, if you delay this input link will often use his double jump. You want to use a fair to spike link before he uses his 2nd jump then prevent him from using his upb by following him after the spike to land a dair. If he hits you with his upb but he is still spiked you save time because you lose bonuses.

Yoshi team The ideal strategy for yoshi team in this category is to jump to the right platform and kill that yoshi with UpB then before the strong part ends hit the yoshi on the right platform. Then wait on the side platform to see where the 2 yoshi are spawning. Quickly plan out a route with UpB to kill the remaining yoshi that spawned on the top platform and the 2 that spawned as close to the same time as possible. If you did that in a close enough time period and made sure to land back on a platform you should be in a good position to take out the next 3 that will be spawning near each other. The rest of the stage is making sure those cycles are happening to make it really fast. If you get them out of sync remember that grabbing and throwing(preferably back) should be used on a single yoshi in certain situations you don’t want to use UpB due to the length of the move.

Fox Buffer the dash out of the countdown just like you did on link to grab him, sometimes he walks towards you but a lot of the time he just just runs away from you. When you figure out which way he is going and grab him you should back throw him immediately no matter where you are. When he lands from the throw he will not tech and that means you can grab him as soon as you get to him. You then have to cargo him then move to this point http://imgur.com/AD3uNlR and jump with him on your back holding him until the peak of your jump(assuming you held right 100 the entire time) and release him. After releasing him you need to land on the slope on the left edge of the stage and dash immediately to fair him offstage before he uses he uses his 2nd jump then follow him after the spike and dair him before he can use UpB. This strategy bears a lot of resemblance to the Link strategy employed earlier on link and the same rule applies for getting hit with the UpB as with the Link strategy.

Mario Bros Buffer Shield roll right behind Mario and grab him immediately out of that to back throw him off the bottom platform. Walk off the middle platform onto the moving platform to get in position for a full hop fair when he uses his double jump to try and get up onto the top platform. Luigi may be on the bottom platform or he might be on the top platform depending on the way you and your cpu partner moved and threatened his space. If he is on the bottom you should plan your fair so you land on the moving platform again to jump up to the bottom centre platform, grab luigi, and run off the stage with him in a cargo to trade the first of your stocks for his. If he is the top platform plan out your fair so you can double jump onto the top platform and grab luigi so you can drop through and fast fall with the cargo.

Pikachu Buffer a dash and full hop at the top of the inner slope to land in front of Pikachu. Walk forward a bit and grab him, if he rolls behind you while you are moving towards him pivot quickly and grab him. Then utilize the cargo throw to trade your 2nd stock with his.

Giant DK Run to the end of the incline in the middle of the stage and do a full hop while holding right. At the apex of your jump use your double jump to land on the top right platform to get in place for your grab. Once you grab him drop through the platform, hold right enough to get past the stage and let go of input. At about the level of the barrels fast fall to trade his stock for yours, the reason you wait is that if you fastfall too early he breaks out of your grab and UpBs costing 3 seconds.

Kirby team Dash towards the left platform and jump immediately to kill the Kirby on the right with an UpB, you should be able to hit the Kirby on the top platform with the strong hit of your UpB if you hold up-right after hitting the 1st one. It is key that these kills be very close to each other so the next cyclespawns together. I am going to try and explain how to manipulate both Kirby into spawning on the same side with this image http://imgur.com/g5MwOE7 . This is the area that you must be in while they are spawning. If you are in the air you need to be holding right slightly while falling or else they will spawn apart and you will lose the cycle, once you have reached the ground wait for them to spawn before moving towards them and jumping into your next upb somewhere near the left side of the left platform. After hitting both Kirby with the side fist hitboxes on the UpB so they don’t get KOed off the top fade back to the red X on the image I last linked then let go of your stick and wait for them both to die. Make sure that when they spawn you are in the designated area either holding right slightly in the air or not moving on the ground near the right part of the designated area.

Edit: here is an image taken from discord that details this with theory on why it works https://imgur.com/a/lDO6doL

Samus Charge Giant Punch(B) then dash to samus and grab her Back throw her off the edge Wait for her to use her 2nd jump and Grab her again Throw her off the level and use Giant Punch in the air after she uses her 2nd jump

Metal Mario Jump and hit a in the air with no joystick input Turn around and grab Metal Mario Walk off the level and press down on the joystick

Fighting Polygon Team Jump and use Up+B on the Polygon on the left platform then the top Land on the right platform and back-throw the polygon there

Master Hand Alternating full hop(with stick for extra height) fair uair and fair nair is technically the fastest method of defeating master hand Repeated upsmash in place is a lot easier to pull off and should be used in situations where master hand will use his next attack right away

Strategies for Individual Moves

R◄ Poke Master Hand pokes the air twice. The second poke is more powerful. Inflicts 8-26%. -baiting master hand into using this move near his default position causes him to stay in place longer before the next attack cycle A► Background Fist Master Hand flies away up the top of the screen and makes a fist in the background. And he punches into the player. He flies back on the stage. Does 16% to player. -if you down smash right before the punch from behind it clanks with the fist hitbox, smash DI the hit down and tech in place to keep your position to punish him when he comes back B► Gun Master Hand makes the shape of a gun, and fires sets of 2 bullets. He fires 1 set if above 100 HP, and three sets if below. 5% each. -Your run ultimately decides a great deal on how many of these you get in the attack pattern, unfortunately DK does not have a method of damaging MH while he is charging the gun. You are able to charge giant punch in this time though so you can have an instakill once he gets below 36 which can save time. R▲ Drill Master Hand flies up, then slams down while spinning in a drill-like fashion. 1-25% -If you bait MH correctly you should not be hit by this attack but if you are smash DI into the ground and tech roll out -If you space yourself correctly you can hit MH while he is spinning with the tip of the fsmash htibox without getting hit, this is the fastest option. L▲ Sweep Master Hand makes several sweeping motions. The amount of motions depend on the size of the platform. 12% R▼ Crush Master Hand flies off the top of the screen, then appears in the background. He attempts to flatten the player. 16% L▼ Walk Master Hand "walks" using his pointer and middle fingers. When he reaches his opponent, he "kicks" them. 18%. -you want to interrupt this move as quickly as possible with a fair spaced near the base of the fingers, once you trade hits with MH smash DI towards the ground and tech to get in position A▲ Jet Master Hand makes a vaguely plane-like shape, then flies into the background. He attempts to fly into the player, then flies in from the right. If the player makes contact with him when he is taking off, they will be burned launched downwards. 12-16% -when master hand is approaching from behind you can trade with him as before with dsmash, make sure to tech roll to the left so you dont get hit by him coming in from the right and get in position for a fair just after the hitbox finishes on the hand into an upsmash L► Slap Master Hand makes a slapping motion across the platform. 16% R► Target punch Master Hand hovers over the target, then quickly punches down. 8-24% -if you recognize the startup frames of this attack you can use both jumps to hit MH while he is aiming the fist and still have enough time to fastfall to the ground and shielding his attack then punishing Z► Dash grab Master Hand follows an enemy, then dashes towards them and grabs them, crushing him/her/it in his hand 3 times. 80% -this attack has a telltale startup animations where MH moves in relation to you and his fingers can be seen moving as his palm turns up -mash to get out of this attack Z▲ Catch and throw Master Hand follows an enemy, then catches them, then crushes him/her/it in his hand 3 times then throws them up in the air (K.O.'s most of the time). 80% -this attack has a telltale startup animations where MH moves in relation to you and his fingers can be seen moving as his palm turns up -mash to get out of this attack